Method

Organism

Although the zebrafish has become an important model in visual neuroscience, little has been done to examine the processing of its higher visual centers. The purpose of this work was twofold. The first purpose was to examine the physiology of the zebrafish retinotectal system and its relationship to retinal physiology. Spectral sensitivity functions were… (More)

We have shown previously that the antiepileptic phenytoin impairs transfer in an instrumental learning task (Banks et al., 1999). The present study examined the effects of contextual alterations on appetitive-to-aversive transfer performance of rats treated with either phenytoin or tang. Adult rats were tested in tone-signaled appetitive and aversive… (More)

Anti-epileptic compounds have been linked to several developmental disorders. Specifically, fetal exposure to phenytoin is linked to fetal hydantoin syndrome in humans. We have developed a rat model of fetal hydantoin syndrome in an effort to explore the relationship between drug exposure, development, and learning and memory. Previous studies of this… (More)

While some lower vertebrates, such as zebrafish, do not appear to possess anatomically separate pathways of processing visual information (such as M-pathways and P-pathways), it is believed that separate processing of the visual stimulus (such as luminance and chromatic processing) is a basic requirement of vertebrate vision. In this study, spectral… (More)

Chronic stress has been shown to impact learning, but studies have been sparse or nonexistent examining sex or task differences. We examined the effects of sex and chronic stress on instrumental learning in adult rats. Rats were tested in an aversive paradigm with or without prior appetitive experience, and daily body weight data was collected as an index… (More)

Research has shown that rearing in abnormal lighting environments affects both visual behavior and retinal physiology in zebrafish larvae. These studies, however, used only constant dark and constant white light as the experimental rearing conditions. This study assessed the effects of rearing larvae in restricted spectral lighting environments on zebrafish… (More)

INTRODUCTION
Neonatal treatment with clomipramine (CLI) has been shown to have reliable behavioral and biological changes that mimic major symptomatic and biochemical changes found in depression. This paper further explores a common feature of depression, the comorbidity of seizure activity and depressive behaviors in this mode.
METHODS
Rat pups were… (More)

We have previously shown that 21-day chronic restraint stress impacts instrumental learning, but overall few studies have examined sex differences on the impact of stress on learning. We further examined sex differences in response to extended 42-day chronic stress on instrumental learning, as well as recovery from chronic stress. Rats were tested in… (More)

INTRODUCTION
Studies suggest that sleep plays a role in traumatic memories and that treatment of sleep disorders may help alleviate symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Fear-conditioning paradigms in rodents are used to investigate causal mechanisms of fear acquisition and the relationship between sleep and posttraumatic behaviors. We developed a… (More)

Obesity is a primary risk factor for the development of obstructive sleep apnea in humans, but the impact of obesity on central sleep apnea is less clear. Given the comorbidities associated with obesity in humans, we developed techniques for long-term recording of diaphragmatic EMG activity and polysomnography in obese mice to assess breathing patterns… (More)